Thursday Book Review: “My Cape Malay Kitchen”

Happy Thursday! Today’s featured book is a beautiful cookbook from Penguin Random House South Africa: My Cape Malay Kitchen by Cariema Isaacs. This delicious book has been receiving some wonderful reviews. Check out what readers have to say!

Cookbook Review: My Cape Malay Kitchen by Cariema Isaacs

Brian O’Rourke | HuffPost

“Sometimes a book is multiple things. Recipes. Adventure. Tribute. Education. You’ll find all that in My Cape Malay Kitchen.”

““Merger of cuisines” is perhaps the best summary of this book. Every dish shines with its culinary heritage on display.”

“My Cape Malay Kitchen is a sweet book — well spicy, too — and one you’ll find charming and flavorful.”

Book Review – My Cape Malay Kitchen

Tammany Barton | Writers Write

“I went on a great storytelling and culinary journey of warm spicy aromas and beautiful tales of Cape Malay heritage. Cariema Isaacs’ beloved father inspired her cookbook which is filled with family, culture, and delicious dishes.”

“The easy to read instructions and lovely stories and photographs of Cariema’s family created a personal experience. I felt as if Cariema were in my kitchen every step of the way ensuring I got it right!”

“The magical ingredient to this cookbook is the undeniable sprinkle of love on each page.”

“The ingredients used, the quantities! It was like I had had a hand in writing this cookbook myself! I became more and more excited, and with the exception of a few recipes, most of them were almost exactly like my grandmother would make her Cape Malay dishes.”

About the Book

My Cape Malay Kitchen is a breathtakingly beautiful presentation of some 80 traditional Cap Malay recipes as well as a selection of modern dishes. These are accompanied by Cariema’s depiction of her childhood growing up in Bo-Kaap — the Cape Malay Quarter of Cape Town. She includes the religious and cultural ceremonies, as well as events that have shaped this unique community. But My Cape Malay Kitchen is still a cookbook; packed with flavourful food, richly spiced curries, indulgent cakes and decadent desserts, all illustrated with truly inspirational photography.

Cariema Isaacs was born in Schotsche Kloof in Bo-Kaap. She has a natural flair in the kitchen, and from an early age was familiar with ingredients that her grandmother would transform into the most scrumptious dishes. Cariema lived in Cape Town for most of ther life, before moving to Johannesburg, and then finally Dubai, where she and her husband are raising their two teenage sons. My Cape Malay Kitchen is her first book.